The immediate problem with One Planet: Space Junk (World Service) was one of scale. It just didn't sound too pressing an issue, the fact that 50 years after manned space flight began there are 13,000 pieces of debris orbiting the planet. Sure, 13,000 is plenty of anything. It just doesn't sound so much when it's got the whole of space to waft around in.

Presenter Richard Hollingham did his best to inject some life into the programme. He got access to an RAF base where they track bits of rubbish in space, and it was momentarily quite exciting that he wasn't allowed to record in the control room for "security reasons". But then he described the control room, and any mystery fizzled away: "There are two rows of desks looking at a series of three screens."

What it really lacked was a contributor or two who could make pictures for us with a few evocative descriptions. We heard briefly about the "graveyard orbit", a seam of obsolete satellites still orbiting the earth, and "derelict rocket bodies". But mostly, this was a flatly told documentary that failed to transport the listener anywhere much. "A bit like cosmic trainspotting," said Hollingham at one point. Exactly.